That was a good read. Thanx for the post and other slant on things.
waiting for peace, jef
>From: "Chris Emery"
>Quag over on the Jiggy Week list has addressed this much better than I, so I
>give you his words, with his blessing:
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Rex Iscariot"
>Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 4:22 AM
>
> > Like I said before, life will continue as there are Big Macs to make. In
> > another year, this will be but a somber memory with candlelight vigils and
> > monuments and life will continue. And a lot of shitty Made for TV
> > movies. And people who are somber and expressing solidarity today will
> > slowly start being assholes to one another in due course. The winding
>down
> > of cataclysms is not unlike the end of the Christmas season where people
> > begin to try to kick each other's ass in the returns line at Macy's.
> >
> > This is an aberration in this ridiculous historical bubble of safety and
> > sloth we've been living in for quite some time. Not the first time, and
> > not the last time something like this will happen. Whether this "changes
> > everything" is up to how people react to it; our future is determined
> > exclusively by the observers here in this country, meaning us, and not by
> > screwheads overseas or here, or whoever is responsible for this. While no
> > doubt airport security and the like will be affected, as well as the lives
> > of those who lost loved ones, friends, and associates in this, in a few
> > months, this will not play any major part in anyone's consciousness except
> > perhaps a little extra nervousness in flying.
> >
> > Watching the crash is like watching a movie. It's only afterward that the
> > dissonance hits where your mind attempts to separate this horror from the
> > desensitized reflex of treating it as another Hollywood movie. For me, at
> > least, disgust was a delayed reaction. I had to kick start my own
> > revulsion because my mind, subconsciously, took it in like, you know, guys
> > running in slow motion from fireballs in some cheesy big budget summer
> > blockbuster.
> >
> > I'm going to have to make a concerted effort to avoid the media in the
>next
> > few days, because already I'm being annoyed by everyone:
> >
> > (1) Those talking about bombing the ragheads, or some other ugly
> > racial/cultural epithet, into oblivion.
> >
> > (2) Those who try to portray themselves as enlightened by condemning any
> > and all speculation about the Middle East, as if there's no precedent for
> > this. It's one thing to just blindly go to war with a Middle Eastern
> > country, it's another to have a sinking feeling that probably people
> > unhappy with US Foreign Policy in the Middle East are involved.
>Anything's
> > possible, of course, but the idea that we should treat the possibility
>that
> > this attack came from, I dunno, the Mongolians, on equal footing with the
> > possibility that Osama bin Laden is responsible, is absurd.
> >
> > (3) Those who pretend that this somehow has them devastated and
>permanently
> > changed even though they are not personally involved. Right now, without
> > temporal distance from this, it's shocking, it's sickening, yet life will
> > continue tomorrow and in a few weeks, it will fade from consciousness and
> > be replaced by the distractions of everyday life. It will be forgotten,
> > and we will in time make the same mistakes both in terms of how we conduct
> > foreign policy and how we implement security here, because Americans have
> > notoriously short memories, and think that the way things have generally
> > been in their life, have always been like that. ("Like cattle racing each
> > other to be first to the slaughterhouse," we don't want to upset the
> > sociological and political science establishments by violating the "law of
> > historical physics" that states that history must always, in every case,
> > inexorably repeat itself).
> >
> > We live in a historical bubble of safety and idleness, no longer eternally
> > vigilant about anything or aware of our uniquely (and tenuously) secure
>and
> > peaceful moment in the violent and inherently unstable currents of human
> > history. This entire process will repeat itself because half the people
> > who are loudly calling for the obliteration of Afghanistan can't even find
> > it on a map. I wonder how many people have already forgotten the embassy
> > bombings in Africa and the USS Cole attack. Our blind, stupid faith in
> > both our own government and our station in the world will once again
>assert
> > itself and we will once again be finding other crises to get hysterical
> > about while we wolf down the aforementioned Big Macs.
> >
> > This is not "America losing its innocence," or some great sea-change in
>the
> > way Americans, culturally, perceive their security and safety in the
> > world. It is a momentary distraction, an accident on the highway to
> > rubberneck at. Sure, for one attack, especially in the United States,
>this
> > is unprecedented. But just like no one gave a crap about school violence
> > until it hit the white suburbs, no one seems to really care about the
> > various massacres going on around the world which have in total claimed
>far
> > more victims than this attack (and will continue tomorrow, and won't even
> > be mentioned by the media. Not with the cool-ass plane flying into
> > building film to loop over and over again. Or the cool dramatic music
>I've
> > been hearing now as they fade to commercial. Or the kick-ass titles and
> > catch phrases which appear in the graphics on the bottom of the screen as
> > news continue to report this, over and over).
> >
> > What separates this, primarily, from the horrors in places like the
>Central
> > African Republic, the Congo, religious massacres in Sudan, East Timor,
> > Myanmar, North Korea - pick your trouble spot - is its cinematic quality,
> > the number of people killed at once, and the fact that it was Westerners
> > killed. But if this had happened in the Third World (and fine, major
> > concerted terrorist attacks like this are uncommon, but frequent natural
> > disasters which do at least this much damage happen all the time), it'd be
> > a footnote on the nightly news, forgotten a week later (how many massive
> > floods and earthquakes in third world places that kill thousands do you
> > clearly remember?). Its only that its the "white middle class people in
> > Columbine" are now being affected that it is at the center of our
> > attention. Well, that, and the spectacular CGI effects of course.
> >
> > In no way do I want to minimize this. As an unapologetically patriotic
> > American, I am utterly outraged and disgusted and angry, and however
> > enlightened and moderate I want to be about any response to this, I will
> > enjoy the revenge which will eventually be taken, hopefully against those
> > responsible rather than a strawman or Jesus-figure (everyone enjoys a
> > crucifixion. Best to be someone we really hate but any will do), as will
> > all of the people who fake a frown of affected sadness, pretending they're
> > too enlightened to enjoy basic, naked revenge.
> >
> > We all enjoy revenge, retaliation, extracting our own pound of flesh. I
> > don't need studies of human psychology to confirm this, I need only look
>at
> > how important it is even for otherwise rational people to have their last
> > word on Usenet flame wars. It will be quite enjoyable for all except
>those
> > who sympathize with whatever party is responsible for this.
> >
> > One group of people will take pleasure in this in the same way that people
> > who gather outside of prisons and have tailgate parties when someone is
> > executed take pleasure. Another will take pleasure in their
>self-righteous
> > restraint and phony intellectual way of responding, as they pretend to be
> > appalled by the "jingoism" of the American response (and any so-called
> > "collateral damage" which will inevitably be the result of a military
> > response), and it will make them feel warm and superior as they mix their
> > dry martinis and pat themselves on the back for being more civilized about
> > this than anyone else.
> >
> > What will not change is anything in the fundamental calculus of simple
> > human psychology or the ignorance and apathy of the average American.
>It's
> > not that this is some horrible immutable phenomenon. It is not. But it
> > will take far more than something like this to change anything. I don't
> > think most people want to face the the basic reality of this situation:
> > that we do not live in an invincible, impenetrable fortress, that there
>are
> > forces in the world that we cannot now, nor will ever be able to control
> > (though we continue Quixotic things like the Drug War and remain in
> > comfortable denial. This is of course just one example among many), and
> > that ultimately the catalyst (if not the culprit) in this is largely
> > American foreign policy. And you can read that as we're too violent and
> > meddle in too many affairs of the world (making too many enemies), or
>that,
> > alternatively we're too restrained in trying to appear "fair minded" in
>the
> > face of fanatical movements and cults.
> >
> > Certainly if our foreign policy was not as muddled as it is; if we could
> > decide whether we are cold pragmatists, working in the interest of
> > economics, or actually care about human rights and justice as our primary
> > motivation, sorting this situation out, and sorting out all of the ugly
> > situations in the world that we are involved in, would be far simpler.
> >
> > Tomorrow, murder, mayhem, genocide, religious massacres will continue all
> > over the world, but you won't hear about it. No one will know, and no one
> > will care, the same way that, no doubt, people all over the world who have
> > been abandoned by the West and live with violence and death every day, are
> > probably not crying too hard over this. Hordes of limbless refugees,
> > victims of land mines and torture and abuse, who have seen their own
> > children literally worked to death at gunpoint, will, exchaustedly,
> > continue to pour over the border from Burma to Thailand, trying to find
> > asylum and safety, and just a place to rest. Some Christians in the south
> > of Sudan will die tomorrow, as will Sudanese Muslims, as southern
> > terrorists kill them in retaliation. Possibly someone else will die in
> > Israel or one of Israel's occupied territories. Someone will be executed
> > or "disappeared" in North Korea, probably someone's mom or dad. Someone
>in
> > Cambodia or Vietnam will die or lose a limb by stepping on a landmine left
> > by a country that couldn't be bothered to clean up its mess. Perhaps
>there
> > will be more tribal massacres in Africa.
> >
> > If I were the Warrior King, omnipotent in the world, I would be insistent
> > upon stopping all forms of oppression, injustice, and violence
> > everywhere. That a massacre of people in Eritrea would be treated with
>the
> > same revulsion and condemnation and demand for justice that an attack on
> > our own country would be.
> >
> > People who truly understand human rights as just that - rights of humans
> > which no government has any right to abridge or take away, and that the
> > most fundamental of these rights is life, have been calling for this type
> > of consciousness for a long time. It comes to mind for me when I hear of
> > the massive injustices committed along our border and the xenophobic
> > anti-immigrant billboards you sometimes see here in Arizona, and thinly
> > veiled callousness and racism inherent in most anti-immigration
>sentiments.
> >
> > Enjoy the snuff film. There will be a short intermission between this and
> > act two, wherein the United States forces, led by Steven Seagal, bombs the
> > living shit out of whatever country looks best on fire, when shot on
> > film. As much as it may be tempting to read a kind of sardonic sarcasm in
> > this, I mean it quite literally with no emotional coloring: Whatever the
> > response to this is, I can promise, even though I'm not involved, that it
> > will *look great*.
> >
> > Then we can go out for some beers afterword, fall asleep, and all over the
> > world more death and destruction will continue as we blissfully, ignorant,
> > drift off to sleep, making a mental note to hook up with the new Mudvayne
> > album tomorrow at the mall.
> >
> >
> > ============================================================
> > Rex Iscariot - Tucson, Arizona, USA
> >
> > http://www.frostwarning.com
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/80sBBS
> >
> > "I went out drinking with Thomas Paine..." - Billy Bragg
> > ============================================================
>
>---------------
>Unsubscribe by going to http://www.actwin.com/MediaNation/OtR/
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
---------------
Unsubscribe by going to http://www.actwin.com/MediaNation/OtR/
Follow-Ups: